Hey reader,
I planned on waiting a little longer before doing this, but I’ve decided to instead do a bit of a soft release to just my newsletter subscribers only. This means you get to be the first to see what I’ve been working on these last few weeks!
I really think you’ll like it. Check this edition’s feature below.
Simon
💡🛠️ Mondecast Feature: MondeLibrary - a database of language resources
I’m excited to announce, just for my newsletter subscribers, my most recent project.
Basically, it’s a resource repository that doesn’t suck.
Finding resources is one of the harder parts of starting out language learning. To help, repositories are a great tool for finding out about things that have worked for other learners. Unfortunately, to date, every single one I have seen so far suffers from one or more shortcomings:
They aren’t comprehensive
They are full of dead or out-of-date resources
They have no way of voting or finding the most recommended resources
There are too many to sort through
They don’t say what the resources are or why you should use them
They only do one type of resource (e.g. only input and but no courses)
They only serve a single language
There’s no way to filter or sort based on need
No matter where I looked, there was nothing out there that actually helped you sort and pick from the massive amount of options.
I realised then that people don’t just need a list. They need a database they can interact with visually. They need the ability to vote up the resources they like, and vote down the ones they think are no good, and, most importantly, they need to be able to filter based on what they need.
That’s MondeLibrary. A 100% free forever repository of resources in every category you might need.
To keep it quality, MondeLibrary is curated. There is not a single resource I have not looked at and decided to include (or reject).
It’s already live at library.mondecast.com, but I’ve held off announcing it widely just yet for a couple of reasons.
First, the current resources are still being moved to their final categorisation, so not all of the filters get all the resources that they should. Second, I am still far short of my goal. I estimate I will need north of 1,500 resources, mostly input for the main languages. At the moment I am only sitting at ~250!
If you’d like to help me get there, I could use a hand.
First, please click on the resources and vote on them. The good ones can’t float to the top if the database doesn’t know which ones are good. Second, please submit resources that you think are good. The more quality resources are there, the more we will be able to help people.
Finally, if you see anything wrong, please reach out to me.
Hope you enjoy!
🌐Language learning
5 things I noticed from reading 5 books in my TL
How to learn a language with a friend
💻From around the web
The World Happiness Report came out, Finland won again
The linguistics of Project Hail Mary
India’s efforts to make its national AI available in its many languages
The languages of Iran
Till next time!
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